The popular Culture in Clueless the Movie

When we feelimpotent and out of control, and feel we are in need for a sanctuary in a placewhere we could gather our thoughts and regain our strength, where would we go?Well, according to Cher, we should go to the mall!  

 

Cluelessis a comedy film directed by Amy Heckerling that was produced in 1995. Thestory is based on Jane Austin’s novel “Emma”; however, the setting isdifferent, where the story takes place in Beverly Hills in the 1990s.

Thefilm portrays the material and non-material culture of Beverly Hills’ highschool kids, with all their values, beliefs, and norms.  Cher, the maincharacter in the film, is a rich teenager, whose mother died long time agowhile undergoing liposuction. She is obsessed with fashion, shopping, andmatchmaking; yet, she is not interested in dating high school boys. Her exstepbrother Josh is a college student, who keeps teasing Cher for being selfishand superficial, and tells her that her only direction in life is ‘toward themall’. 

Thefilm portrays the popular culture in Beverly Hills using sarcasm.Most of the people are materialistic, obsessed with fashion, dating, andplastic surgery. For example, a lot of high school girls had a bandage on theirnoses, and some on their chins, which mocks the fact that plastic surgery, andespecially having a nose job, is a normin this society. Moreover, one of the girls, trying to avoid tennis practice inschool, tells the teacher that her plastic surgeon doesn’t want her to do anyactivity where balls fly at her nose. Another thing that contributes to thisirony is the death of Cher’s mom while undergoing a liposuction surgery. Theobsession with fashion is also exaggerated and observed when Cher designs herclothes in the morning on a computer screen rather than on her own body.

     Thisis the common culture in Beverly Hills, or the large subculture of the rich.People are expected to be fashionable, and this is shown when the new girlarrived to the school looking like a farmer, as one of the girls said. However,Cher and her friend Donnie decided to use their popularity for a good cause andstart their “project” to give the poor girl a new look, so she would be able tofit in their society. Moreover, The girls have their own female languageincluding terms that substitutes for things like period and sex. 

Thefilm portrays the materialistic life people in Beverly Hills live. Theyunderstand the language of brands, the shopping mall is considered to be aplace where Cher can concentrate, think and get focused. As Josh, Cher’s ex-stepbrother, says, Cher’s ‘only direction in life’ is ‘towards the mall’. According to Coonie, ‘Cher’s main thrill in life’ is to give someone amakeover, ‘it gives her a sense of control in a world full of chaos.’  

Thepopular cultural represented in the film was shown to an extreme level ofexaggeration and irony, however 16 years after the film release this popularcultural, based on materialism and consumerism,is now found not only in the US but also worldwide.